Gov. Doug Ducey aims to catch sexual predators by testing rape kits left untouched for years in police evidence rooms, but first, he must find out how many exist in Arizona.
The ABC15 Investigators first brought the lack of sexual assault exam testing to light in 2012.
"All across our state, women await justice and predators evade the law looking for their next victim," Ducey said Monday in his State of the State address.
The governor used an executive order to create a task force this week. The group will spend much of the year locating untested exam evidence, studying best practices in handling the old kits, checking on funding for testing some or all of the backlog. Task force members hope their work will result in rape kit testing laws and state funding in 2017.
"This is obviously something we've been working on for the last few years, so we are grateful for their support and commitment for addressing this problem in the state," said Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence public policy manager Shannon Rich.
Rape kits contain biological evidence collected from victims during Sexual Assault Forensic Exams. Police agencies say nearly all the untested kits come from cases where the suspect is known. Sexual assault victims' advocates argue some of those known DNA profiles could be linked to unknown assailants in unsolved cases.
ABC15 found testing the kits won't be fast or cheap. State crime lab managers tell us they can process up to 35 kits a month, and they average 15 to 25 new rape kits coming in each month.
"We are addressing already some untested kits," said State Crime Lab superintendent Vince Figarelli. "But we certainly don't have the capacity for several thousand kits if it’s determined several thousand were out there."
Other police crime labs in Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale and Tucson also process DNA evidence from rape kits.
According to the state lab, it costs approximately $2,000 to $3,000 to test each kit and input the DNA profile into a national crime database.
"There is a lot that goes into it other than just doing the test," Figarelli said. "You can outsource portions of it, but you can't do all of it."
DPS Colonel Frank Milstead, who oversees the crime lab, tells ABC15 he would find a way to handle the influx of rape kits if the governor and state legislators mandate testing.
